Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech: Two bold predictions before Saturday’s game

NORMAN — Here is the final of our three pregame blog posts to preview Oklahoma’s game against Texas Tech.

Here, Ryan Aber and I each make one bold prediction for today’s game.

ABER: Damien Williams tops 100 yards.Williams was the Sooners’ top rusher a year ago, coming close to the 1,000-yard mark. He hasn’t shown that kind of explosiveness to this point. Texas Tech’s rushing defense has been pretty solid this season, allowing just 123.1 yards per game but Oklahoma will try to establish the run early and control the pace of the game on the ground. Williams is due for a breakout and he’ll get it today.

KERSEY: Texas Tech leads by two touchdowns at halftime.I picked the Red Raiders to win this game, but I could easily see Oklahoma proving me wrong. The biggest determining factor in that will be the Sooners’ comeback ability. After the way Texas and Kansas exploited the young, inexperienced OU defense early in the last two games, I think Texas Tech will have similar success early in Saturday’s game, and the Red Raiders will carry that early momentum to a two-touchdown lead at the break.

That doesn’t mean Oklahoma can’t — or won’t — come from behind to win, but it will certainly be difficult if Blake Bell and the offense aren’t able to score lots of points in the second half.

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Jason Kersey became The Oklahoman's OU football beat writer in May 2012 after a year covering high school sports and OSU recruiting. Before joining the newspaper in November 2006 as a part-time results clerk, he covered high school football for...